More on Addie L. Ballou:

Tuesday, April 7, 2015

Those who know me well can bear witness to my intention to
continue to write novels based on Addie’s life, beginning shortly after her
divorce in 1869, until I ran out of stories to tell. And with that in mind, I
earnestly continued my in-depth research. However, I inevitably ran into a
dilemma: her vast life of complex and controversial interests made the task
of telling more of her stories nearly impossible.

For example, in 1870 alone, she logged over 4000 miles as a
medium; a spirit artist; and a lecturer of Spiritualism, prison reform, and woman’s
suffrage. And she would become ill from exhaustion, recover, and resume her
schedule, saying, “My life is dear to me, because scattered through the
West—parts of that life, and dependent upon it—are my children. Therefore I
shall live and labor so long as I can.”

And she did—right up to her death in 1916.

Just keeping to the years 1870–1873 could easily fill several novels
and/or history books on Spiritualism (and some valued religion and some hocus
pocus performances), prison reform (and the unconventional theories of why a
person would commit a crime), woman’s suffrage (often referred to as the
“Shrieking Sisterhood”), free-love (which gained a reputation for being free
lust), and the quick rise and fall of Victoria Woodhull (whom Addie supported
and is one plausible reason she moved on to California in 1874).

My excellent research skills kept me submerged in the past, and I
want to live in the present by following my muse into a creative new adventure.

So after fifteen years of research and producing several books on
this intoxicating Ballou family, I have simply had enough. It’s time I pursue
something else.

Tuesday, February 3, 2015

Gen.
Butler introduced in the House, on Wednesday, an enormous petition,
purporting to be signed by 35, 000 American women, asking Congress for a
declaratory act giving women the right of suffrage. We very much doubt whether
a majority of the women of the United States could be induced to sign such a
petition, and we believe that even were the right of suffrage conferred upon
them nineteen-twentieths of the best women in the country would refuse to
exercise it. The view of the woman suffragists is, however, that the cares of
politics ought to be imposed upon the sex, and that almost any dodge or device
is allowable to bring about this result. The Nation thinks that all this comes of the ravages made by metaphysical
views of human society upon the morals and manners of a small body of
speculative ladies. They tap their breast, think they hear “a something within
them” which says women ought to play exactly the same part in regulating the
affairs of society that men play – and then bid good-by to scruples about
means.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

Born in
1838, Addie (Hart) Ballou was a nurse during the Civil War, participant in
social reform alongside the likes of Susan B. Anthony, Victoria Woodhull, and
Clara Foltz. Addie was a practicing Spiritualist (clairvoyant medium, lecturer, and
licensed clergy). She was an artist: who painted the portraits of notable
people. She even painted the official portrait of California’s 18th Governor, Henry
Markham, in 1897. It now hangs in the capitol in Sacramento (which I think is
one of the coolest things ever).

This woman logged
thousands of miles lecturing in the Midwest, the South, and the Pacific Coast.
Then she traveled to Australia in 1885. And to Paris in 1900.

Did she
have family? Oh, yes. She gave birth to four boys (one died in infancy) and a
daughter. The surviving four lived into adulthood, married, and had families of
their own. But Addie also got a divorce in 1869, when the children ranged in age from
three to thirteen.

“Wow.
Divorce was scandalous back then,” you say.

So why haven’t
you heard of this scandalous woman who shared a Chicago stage with Susan B. Anthony
in June 1870? Who previously had offered
her services to the Governor of Wisconsin and began working as a nurse in the Oshkosh camp of the 32nd Wisconsin
regiment, where there were many ill (they hadn't even left the state)? Or
who became a correspondent to newspapers, covering reform and Spiritualist
conventions?

Spiritualist
conventions?

I don’t about you, but I certainly was not taught in school about the
part Spiritualism played in women gaining the vote, or loosening her corset
strings, or how the notion of love as we know it today came into being. Maybe
you've already read Ann Braude’s Radical Spirits
(ISBN 978-0-253-21502-4).I have. And
it was only the beginning of how I came to learn about Addie’s part in American
history. Most pages of my copy of that book are marked up, dog-eared, and highlighted. I was
stunned to find Addie’s name in the index. But that was only the beginning.

My best
guess, after more than ten years of researching the life of Addie Ballou and
sharing that information through my writing, is that in order to be
memorialized, it takes being arrested (Susan B. Anthony), being the first to run for president (Victoria Woodhull), or being
in a family who appreciates the significance of your many and varied interests.

Yet, Addie
Ballou was a Spiritualist reformer, a journalist, a poet, an eloquent speaker, an
artist, a suffragette. A mother, a grandmother, and a philanthropist.

So why haven’t
you heard of her?

She wasn't
well-liked by her family, for one thing. Her paintings were disregarded. Her
poetry kept hidden in the sock drawer. And her ex-husband made sure the story he’d
made up—about how she’d abandoned her family—stuck.

Nonetheless,
Addie knew who she was and where she fit in the world. That’s more than many of
us can say.

She was
fearless. Talented. Bright. Self-educated.

I've come to
believe Addie Ballou’s life offers us new insights into American history. Clara
Foltz May have been the first notary public in California, but Addie was the
second. And the story of how these two women worked together, went to the
legislature, and finally got appointed is significant.

I’ll be
writing more about those poems. And Spiritualism, as it was back then, when people
truly believed-they-believed that talking to the dead was possible. And some could
make them materialize before their very eyes.

You see, by
1870, there were nearly 10,000 Spiritualists in Chicago alone.

You can expect to hear more of this woman who
traveled—alone—to spread the gospel of Spiritualism and social reform, whose
painting “Morning” was refused at the California State Fair in 1890 because it
was of a nude. The woman who lived life to its fullest and left us a trail of
breadcrumbs into a time and place we might not otherwise know existed.

If it were
not for her writing—columns in Spiritualist newspapers, letters to editors expressing
her opinion about something or someone, her published poetry, and her 1873
diary—we might have missed Addie Ballou entirely.

I leave you
with the sampling of that 1873 diary:

Friday, March
7 — Augusta, Georgia

Reached
Augusta about 6 o’clock this morning after a very comfortable ride — the
conductor having provided me with a pillow from the sleeping car. Slept nearly
all night.

Found Mr Stalling at the train. Walked with
him over to his house – the morning air was delicious & invigorating – Mr S & family are of the
former poorer classes & to a great measure ignorant so far as educational
culture is concerned. The poverty of their financial affairs & apparent destitute
circumstances can better be excused than the sloth’s want of cleanliness & seeming
indolence on the woman’s side of the house. They use to great excess
snuff in its worst & lowest sense & spit with a naiveté well becoming the filthiest tobacconist. This
excessive use of tobacco I am told stupefies the brain & makes the user
drunk almost.

"Shedding new light on American history through
the life of Addie L. Ballou (1838-1916), one story at a time," I cannot stop now!

Sunday, November 2, 2014

The following is from page 375 of the revised biography
of Addie L. Ballou (Addie L. Ballou: Spiritualist Reformer, Poet,
and Artist, ISBN 978-1502496324). It corrects her date of birth and states my
research findings and conclusion.

Author Notes
— Second Edition

1. There is a misconception that Addie was born April 19, 1837, and it
appears in everything from genealogy records to Wikipedia. It undoubtedly
originates from the family information submitted by Albert Darius Ballou
for inclusion in An Elaborate History and Genealogy of the
Ballous in America, published in 1888. I have a copy of what he sent
in ... in his own handwriting, so I know he was the source of the
misinformation.

In truth, Addie was born April 29,
1838. James M. Hart’s Genealogical
History of Samuell Hartt from London, England, to Lynn, Mass., 1640 ...., published in 1903 states she was born on April 29, 1838, in Russell, Ohio (soon after her birth, that part of
Russell became part of Chagrin Falls).

When I began writing this biography, I
concluded the April 19 from the Ballou source was a typo and talked myself into
accepting 1837.

However, I had not yet been privy to Addie’s
1873 diary, which confirms her date of birth as April 29, 1838 (thus the need
for this second edition).

I include that diary entry here, for it is
representation of Addie’s character. For those of you who have also read my
historical novel, Mrs. Ballou, it
will have added significance:

Tuesday,
April 29, 1873 — Terre
Haute, Indiana

Went
with Mrs Pence to call on Mrs Woods & Mrs Trish this a.m. Had a very
pleasant call at each place. Mrs Woods is a very well informed & naturally
intelligent woman & much better in conversation than I had thought her to
be, tho from the children whom I have seen often & who are both remarkably bright
but exceedingly courteous, I knew they must have no ordinary mother. Mrs Trish,
hers also a very nice family. They were amusing themselves — born a baby rabbit — when we
were there.

A few flakes of snow fell even while we were out riding. This is my
35th birthday and like most of the predecessors it has gone unnoticed if not
unremembered.

Wrote to Mr Flower & to Mother.

2. As well, the misconception that Evangeline
(Eva) was born April 27, 1866,
appears in everything from genealogy records to Wikipedia and originates from
the same submission by her father to An
Elaborate History and Genealogy of the Ballous in America.

However, James M. Hart’s Genealogical History of Samuell Hartt.... correctly states Evangeline was born April 11, 1866.

Addie’s 1873 diary confirms that date:

Friday,
April 11 — Terre Haute, Indiana

This
is my Eva darling’s birthday. She is 7 years old now. Seven years of what rapid
changes. Seven years ago today — the darkest shadows of distress & doubt
were encompassing me....

3. To continue correcting the misconceptions: Albert Darius Ballou and
Addie Hart were not married on Christmas day, 1854. They were married on the
26th, as stated in James M.
Hart’s Genealogical History of Samuell Hartt ....

I have a photocopy of the letter
Addie wrote to her friend, referring to the wedding as occurring the day after
Christmas (see Chapter 11 of this biography). The photocopy is of the actual
hand-written letter.

Albert simply didn’t know the
correct birth date of his former wife or his daughter. But, in his defense,
when he submitted the family’s information, he didn’t have a wife around to
verify facts – she’d divorced him and taken their daughter with her in 1869.

Friday, October 24, 2014

My public profiles (see below)
are all now up to snuff, yet always subject to revision and improvement!

And my debut novel is out: Mrs. Ballou:A
novel inspired by actual people and events(ISBN 978-1499575538). She's available
through my website, Amazon (including a Kindle version), or other fine retail outlets.

I'm pleased with the Kirkus
Review, too, regarding Mrs.
Ballou:

"A historical novel
based on the real life of a 19th-century spiritualist feminist....

Allan's dedication to highlighting the life
of an early proponent of women's rights is admirable. Spiritualist researchers
will be grateful for Allan's thoroughly researched work (inspired, she says, by
Addie's original diaries). Newcomers to the subject matter may also find
Addie's journey interesting, if not inspirational." -- Kirkus
Reviews

So forgive me if I sound
boastful, but I worked really hard to get this far and still have my sanity and
good health. :)

I promise I'll calm down and return to telling more stories of historical interest.